The nation’s current-account surplus slowed by 17 percent year-on-year to US$17.02 billion in the final quarter of last year, as exports weakened amid a US-China trade dispute, the central bank said yesterday.
The figure carries heavy importance for Taiwan’s balance of payments — which includes the current, service and financial accounts — data that summarizes its transactions with the rest of the world regarding movements of goods and services, and the income of residents and foreigners.
The COVID-19 outbreak is raising uncertainty about exports that were previously expected to improve this year after trade tensions between the US and China eased.
The central bank declined to speculate on how data, especially the service account, would evolve this quarter and beyond, after travel deficits rose to a record US$4.2 billion last quarter.
“It is difficult to predict future trends, as the virus outbreak is diminishing tourist arrivals, but also driving local people to cancel trips abroad,” the central bank said.
Governments around the world have introduced border controls and travel restrictions to contain the outbreak. Major local travel agencies have suspended all tours bound for China, Hong Kong and Macau through April, and have reported a sharp decline in trips to Japan, South Korea and other destinations.
Travel deficits for last year stood at US$6.1 billion, also a new high, data showed.
Escalating travel deficits had much to do with keen interest among Taiwanese to travel abroad, coupled with Beijing’s ban on free independent tourist visits to Taiwan, from Aug. 1 last year, the bank said.
From September last year, Japanese tourists outnumbered Chinese, although Chinese visitors generated the most travel income for Taiwan last year, the bank said.
The financial account also saw continued capital outflows for the 38th consecutive quarter, but at a softer pace, as foreign portfolio managers increased holdings in local shares, data showed.
Capital outflows are common in economies such as Singapore, South Korea, Germany and Russia, where trade surpluses have prompted financial institutions to channel excess liquidity to investment tools in overseas markets to pursue higher yields, the bank said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last